To Oblivion and Back
by Silvershadow471
Summary: We had to go to Markarth. We had to get involved. Walk on by? Never; she wouldn't have allowed it, but I should have stopped her instead of leading her to her death. Now how can I possibly go on when I can't even get the chance to? Skyrim-verse, slight AU


**Hey, I'm back! Okay, so you most likely don't know me, since this is my first Elder Scrolls fic, but this is a great day for me! This is my first update/upload in over a year! ...yeah, I get sidetracked easily.**

**Anyway, I was playing Skyrim one day while procrastinating and this actually happened to me. It actually made me really sad, so I reloaded the save to get Lydia back (and to go to Cidhna Mine and finish the quest). Then they announced a writing contest at school, so I wrote something based on that experience. Then I went back and made it all Skyrim-verse. And here we are. **

**Thanks to Tosh and Shelly, who read this beforehand! Enjoy!**

_"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend..." -The Fray_

* * *

_The ground. It's so cold. How can anyone sleep on a cold floor?_

A warmth was all around me. There was a blazing fire in the center of the altar, and the stone walls kept the frigid air of the snow-covered town out. I wished that I could feel the piercing, icy nip through my thick boots. Anything to remind me of pain.

This altar was meant to be holy. It was a place of worship and community gatherings, of marriages and family. It wasn't made to be a place of trickery, blame, revenge. Bloodshed. Death. But I could only stare down, desperately trying to both process the scene and convince the world it wasn't there.

_There's no way… It could never happen._ The still form, lying in a relaxed position, the smallest crimson on her cheek. She looked so calm, but her fingers were curled around her mace, its electrical enchanting still arching along its head. Her ice staff was lying against the base of the wall; it must have rolled there during the battle. She was so vulnerable, sprawled out on the floor. She shouldn't just let her guard down like that. We had to flee the town before the other guards showed up.

She had always been strong, ever since I first met her. I had just arrived in the country, low on money and completely lost. I kept moving forward, hoping to find a village or town of some sort while beating away every creature, demon, and reanimated skeleton that attacked. As it was nearing sunset and the two moons were beginning to rise in the south, my feet stepped on the smooth floorboards of a tavern. A grin of relief and delight could be seen under my helmet as I rested next to the fire. A blacksmith told me the closest town was one of the country's great cities, Whiterun, and that he was going to deliver some silver to its king, if I wanted to come along. The divines smiled on me, and we left in the morning.

Giant stone and wood houses greeted my arrival. It was like nothing I had ever seen before: the whole city was based of a hill, with houses and towers naturally circling the earth in tiers. I couldn't help but gawk at the beauty of it, but the residents instantly sensed I was an outsider.

I was only staying for a little bit, but the people were whispering amongst themselves. It went from petty curiosities like "Where do you suppose he's from?" to masked hatred like "How much you want to bet he's seeking asylum from banditry?" There were rumors about "that new barbaric mercenary" and "that new traveling thief" and "the foreigner." None of them were true, but I didn't want any trouble and stayed quiet.

Then I met her.

She picked me out of the crowd at the market and greeted me as a guest to the town. Even with her steel armor and wicked-looking great sword strapped to her back, her face was both brave and gentle. She paid for my room at the inn, got us some food, and told me about the country. For years the natives have been fighting over the government, and Whiterun was right in the middle. Half of the citizens backed the traditional monarchy, but the others wanted to change. She hated that, and after voicing her opinions she begged me to take her on my journey.

"I'm just a wanderer right now," I reminded her. "I don't have a destination."

"I know," she said with a smirk. "Anywhere but here." That confidence in her eyes, the twitching of her hands, her smile… She wanted to see and do things, just like me.

That's when we started our wandering together, and very quickly we were like brother and sister. She would save me from a pouncing bear with a well-timed arrow. I would have to lecture her on the dangers of wild plant consumption. We laughed together when we fell into yet another bandit trap and thought up the craziest and most eccentric ways to escape. Even though we never talked about our family, we both knew that we only had each other, and I swore that I would take her to the ends of oblivion and back again to make our adventure worthwhile.

Then we _happened_ to pass by that caravan. She just _happened_ to buy a frost staff. The vendor _happened_ to tell us about the prestigious College of Winterhold. We just _had_ to go learn some spells, and we just _had_ to visit Markarth, the town that was on the way. That rebel spy just _had_ to murder a woman right in front of us, and we just _had_ to get involved with the case.

The murderer was in the town's prison this whole time, secretly controlling his minions on the outside world through the guards of the city. As soon as she found the last clue, we had hurried back to Falik, one of the locals who was helping our investigation. He was hiding in the temple, so we scurried in, thinking it was the save haven it was meant to be. Instead of the seeing the face and figure of our newfound friend, three Markarth guards stood at the base of the stairs, pulling out their weapons when they see us.

"We told you to stop snooping around, but you just had to go and figure it all out, didn't you?" the middle one sneered, his accent lightly coating his words. "Disobedient foreigners."

We did not want to see three guards with drawn swords, especially when they shouldn't have been there. "Where's Falik?" I demanded, suspecting the worst.

"_Unfortunately_, he's been dealt with already." I wanted to snarl at his blatantly fake realization. "But you were the last known person to meet with him! I guess that means we'll have to blame all these killings on you."

My adventuring sister withdrew her ice staff, it's aura flaring up at her anger. "Why you traitorous, wolf-brained-!"

"So I guess it would be in your best interests to just come quietly to prison, wouldn't it?"

I was glad he had a helmet on, or else I would have smashed his smug face in. Slowly unsheathing my twin enchanted swords, their flame-coated and ice-chilled blades thirsting for blood, I told them, "Never in your lifetime, you unholy bastards."

* * *

Now I'm the only one left.

Blood soaks the stones, and potion bottles and poison vials are littered across the floor, along with shields, knives, and even arrows. There are corpses lying like rag dolls, battle-torn and lifeless. Three males. One female.

"No..." The truth suddenly, finally registers in my mind. "No, no, no!" I go into a frenzy as I collapse next to her, gripping her shoulders, trying to shake her awake. "You can't die! Don't you understand what you'd be missing! We need to get to the college and become mages! We still haven't defeated a giant! I'm going to take you through oblivion, remember?" I can feel the tears prick at my eyes and my throat sting with unvoiced wails of grief. My mind races as I think of ways to save her, and I scramble over to one of the fallen guards to search their equipment.

"Remember that time you fell off the rocks and I had to go on to fight off the bandits?" I mutter as I work, talking both to her and myself. "You still managed to find me, even after I was sure you were dead. Or that time you ran ahead, slaying undead like you were some kind of professional zombie killer, and it took you half an hour to realize I was stuck in a spider web."

Using the last of my energy, I crawl over to the next guard. My hand rummages through his bag and almost immediately pulls out the sleek platinum of a conjuration staff. "Can it be...?"

Excited I grab an energy potion from the bag and drink it, almost choking on the thick mixture. My reinvigorated hands light up the top of the staff, and my heart skips a beat when it turns a dark ebony-purple. "Thank the holy gods!" I shout to the sky as I run to her side, casting the spell around her body. "Please come back!" The staff shivers, and then: _crack._

I gape as the shaft fractures and crumbles, and the glow instantly snuffs out, its power depleted. She is still motionless, completely lifeless, gone forever. Fresh tears roll down my cheeks as I let the necromancer's staff fall. "Is this what I get?" I say with a choked laugh as I head for the door. My gaze is directed forward, not wanting to see the cruel fate I led her to. "Now I'm truly alone and as good as dead. How can I go on?"

Swords resting in their scabbards, I push open the doors, glad that the only light was from one of the moons. Four more guards stood around me, weapons ready. At least five more were stationed as archers. "But you know what?" I question out loud, opening my arms. "I give."

_I have to go on for her. I have to finish this case. Then I'll become the arch-mage of the college. And then, when I travel to oblivion… Then we can meet again._

"You want me in prison? Fine. I'll go and prove you all wrong, and then I'll reveal to every poor person in this town that every one of you damn guards are behind this whole conspiracy!" My voice gets steadily louder until I'm shouting, tears left behind with my fallen friend. "There is no way I am going to fight a whole city, so just take me in already!"

"Saying that after killing our brothers-in-arms?" A thin line of pain erupts on my arm, and I watch my blood drip from my skin and the guard's steel. "You've missed your chance to come easy. Now you can rot in hell's prison, for all I care."

A sad smile crosses my face, suddenly weak from our trials. "Too late, huh?" I step to the side, hearing their swearing as I plummet towards the lake below. "I'll buy my own time, then."

_I will go on. I am going to make her proud._


End file.
